Today I instituted a new course requirement: critical friends. Every student's homework tonight is to locate 2 or 3 people who will agree to be critical friends. A critical friend is someone who helps with a project by making constructive useful suggestions and comments. A critical friend assists with ideas and support when th e project needs propping up. A critical friend is valuable for successful critical thinking and reflection.Making this a new requirement should help on a couple levels: they choose who they want to work with (and trust), they collaborate willingly and therefore challenge the ideas and thinking that happens, and build an deeper interest in their topics by reflecting on the CF's comments. They can share their work with the CF as they do me, so there is a mutual understanding that no one has all the answers but working together generates new perspectives.
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